What are you doing to reduce your "carbon footprint?"

In My Humble Opinion
1

Inspired by the other Al Gore and personal jet threads: what are you doing to be environmentally conscious?

Me, not much. I live in a rural area with no public transportation. I installed a wood stove a couple of years ago to reduce electrical heating costs. I recycle plastics and paper products. But really, what the heck am I supposed to do, and what should be expected of big business?

As far as I’m concerned, Kyoto is a socialist initiative to redistribute global wealth.

So, what are you doing exactly?

2

I think there are far more pressing environmental problems, personally. Still, we drive higher mileage cars, and our appliances, windows and insulation are as efficient as we can afford right now.

3

I have solar panels on my house, and a floor installed heating and cooling system (hypocaust) which is highly efficient. I’m planning on upgrading my solar system at some point to a more modern and efficient system (I just can’t afford it yet). Both my wifes and my car get 30+ miles per gallon…and we are considering buying a hybrid vehicle in the fall. We both recycle (luckily our waste service helps us do this a lot). In addition we switched to those high efficiency low voltage light bulbs about 2 years ago…not only do they save money, they last longer…and of course they use a lot less electricty. THough its not part of our carbon footprint, we also use a lot of high water efficient systems to conserve our water footprint, so to speak (its important out here in the great southwest :wink: )

My guess is that, as a percentage of my gross income I’m doing about an order of magnitude more to reduce my carbon foot print than Mr. Gore is…and I’m not asking anyone else to do it. Its completely voluntary on my part. :stuck_out_tongue:

-XT

4

I think we need to distinguish between the specific issue of “reducing carbon footprint”—i.e., cutting back or compensating for the greenhouse gases that your activities contribute to the atmosphere—and just “living green” or being “eco-friendly” or “sustainable” in general.

There’s a lot of overlap between them, but sometimes they’re at cross-purposes at least in the short term; e.g., some types of organic agriculture have a larger carbon footprint than conventional equivalents.

Me personally? Don’t own a car. There are other “eco-friendly” things I do, but that’s got to be by far the biggest impact, especially in terms of greenhouse-gas emissions.

5

Are you looking to debate your concept of the Kyoto treaty or are you merely wishing to ask a MPSIMS topic of what others are doing to help the environment?

6

Not much at all. In fact, I think my own personal emission of greenhouse gasses rivals that of a well-fed bovine.

7

Nothing at all. I made some efforts to better insulate my house, but that’s to save money. I didn’t have Al in mind.

It’s ludicrous to think that well-meaning middle class folk can forestall global warming by turning the thermostat down a few degrees.

8

Agreed. The sacrifices that would be required if we were to actually have an impact would be far greater…in fact, I still have never seen anyone sit down and definitively state exactly what WOULD be required to make a difference.

-XT

9

A little of both i guess. Maybe not as well thought out as I intended. My thoughts were that the general public seem to want big-business and government to wave a magic green wand and meet Kyoto green-house gas emission targets, yet we’re not willing to sacrifice anything in our daily living patterns to accommodate this ourselves.

So, Ford, GM, Chrysler, Esso, Sunoco, et al, get your act together and cut emissions you heathens, while the rest of us grab a bite at McDonalds in our SUVs. It’s hypocrisy.

10

Huh? This has been discussed all over the climate science/policy literature for years, and there’s even a Wiki article on it. The current approximate target adopted in most climate policy recommendations is the stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations before the resulting temperature increase exceeds 2 deg C over average pre-industrial temps. The above-linked article describes one suggested plan for approaching stabilization:

11

Sure it has been discussed…but as with your example the details are a bit fuzzy on exactly whats needed and more importantly how it will be achieved…and what the final price tag will be.

-XT

12

The problem is that we are asking this of big-business and of government. Are you willing to pay double for a 60 MPG car, or double for your electricity bill? This stuff takes money. BIG MONEY. Money that would otherwise go to profits and to shareholders. It’s a boondoggle.

13

Considering what a huge and complicated issue climate change is, I don’t see how you could realistically expect to know “exactly” what’s needed with complete precision of detail. I’m glad you didn’t demand that we know all the answers with complete precision before starting on your own conservation attempts!

As for knowing “how it will be achieved”, ISTM that the whole point is that there isn’t any one single-focus strategy that we have to depend on for mitigating climate change. How we achieve it will depend on what we choose to do about it. E.g., do we prefer to invest in more nuclear and renewable power generation, or to focus on reducing energy use? Do we prefer to work exclusively through regulation or to enlist market mechanisms such as carbon trading systems? These are not scientific decisions, they’re political ones.

Well, floods, droughts, severe storms, agricultural disruption, spread of disease, and other predicted consequences of anthropogenic climate change will cost BIG MONEY too. It would be false economy to avoid spending money on climate change mitigation if it just leads to having to spend even more money on coping with the effects of unmitigated change.

Do you have any reason for saying that, other than that it’s what you’d prefer to be true? I mean, I think it’s wise to stay aware of the uncertainties and disputes about these issues, but I know of no valid reason to conclude that the whole subject is simply a non-problem being exploited solely for political ends. That’s a kind of closed-minded conspiracy-theorist attitude that at best seems unproductive and at worst might be suicidal.

14

I made my own decision. You know me…I’m big on free will and all. :stuck_out_tongue: However, I did it as an INDIVIDUAL…which btw I feel is the best way to do this kind of thing. Thats another thread however.

I’m not attempting the massive and far ranging social, economic and political changes that someone like Gore is proposing. So…I DO feel its necessary to look realistically at exactly what it would take in terms of real world money and short term productivity loss to do what needs to be done. In addition, I think its important to see something solid on what, exactly, we will be buying with this kind of havoc its going to take to do anything meaningful. All I’ve ever seen is vague figures or projections, and never seen anything realistic on the soup to nuts aspects…what will it cost the average person to impliment? What will it cost the average business? What will it cost society, or a nation like the US? And how will we measure ‘success’…how will we know that its working, that its enough? What meter stick will we use…and what projections are available so we can gage how its going?

-XT

15

Had an energy audit for the house to identify inefficiencies. Replaced the furnace and some other appliances. Installed a programmable thermostat. Put up better-insulating curtains in the winter and open and shut window coverings to let sun in or to insulate through the day. Sealed some gaps under doors. Switched to heating single rooms rather than the whole house at night. Got a down blanket. Air-dry much of the laundry. Recycle yard debris. Plant new trees when we take trees down. Turn off lights. Use compact fluorescents where we can stand them. Recycle cans, bottles, glass, paper, grocery bags, all but #6 plastic, and rigid styrofoam. Grow our own vegetables and fruits organically and with many of the amendments produced locally. Compost. Buy local organic produce and meat. Carpool (in good weather, walk). Drive cars that get good mileage. Pay to donate used electronics so they can be refurbished. We are looking at installing an auxiliary solar water heater. If my property were larger and more accessible, I’d do a geothermal sink, but that may be for the next house.

I count it a good week when we have little to recycle and almost no trash. That means we’ve eaten very little from packages.

16

Yes but GM doesn’t pay to clean up hurricanes. And anyway, to think that climate change (if there is any at all - or even if its caused by man) is somehow linked to hurricanes and other severe weather is ridiculous. There’s no proof.

The conspiracy is that by agreeing to Kyoto we can either reduce emissions by shutting down the country or pay billions of dollars in carbon credits to developing nations.

17

How does this reduce your carbon footprint? The OP’s asking about reducing carbon emissions, not just any environmentally-conscious decision.

18

I have a 6700w Solar panel system on my roof.

I use a programmable thermostat and keep my heating temp fairly low.

I use CFLs in over half my lights in the house and especially in the lights that are on the most.

I have completed installation of new double paned high RF windows.

I wrapped my water heater in RF 15 Fiberglass insulation.

When I purchased my new Oil burning Furnace, I ensured it was over 90% efficient.

I look for energy efficient appliances.

I bought an LCD TV that uses half the energy of the same size Plasma, 66% as a DLP and 66% of the 32" Tube TV that we use to use as the main set.

My primary computer has an LCD instead of CRT.

I compost all of my lawn debris. However, I am not sure of the net value of this over a dump except that there is not transport carbon at least.

Small one, but I use cloth bags as much as possible.

My next car will be a Hybrid. This will be in 1-3 years when my cheap little Ford Focus that I put 20k per year on, dies.

As they become available for reasonable prices, I will start installing LED lighting solutions.

My next water heater will probably be a tankless system.

I will eventually add more Solar Panels unless I can further reduce my energy use.

I am teaching my kids to conserve energy and why we should.

I try to educate people both here at the SDMB and in my county about the environment and how energy conservation in homes could be a measurable part of the reduction of Green House Gases.

Jim

19

I’m personally doing all I can to speed global warming along. It’s damn cold up here.

20

Why double? The premium for a Toyota Prius, a mid-sized car that gets ~48mph (by the newly-released,more realistic EPA estimates) is on the order of maybe $3000-4000. And, you get part of that back in gas savings. (Consumer Reports calculated that the Prius would actually save you money over 5 years of ownership if you include the tax breaks. Without the tax breaks, it would take longer, but this whole comparison was to a Toyota Corolla, which is actually a bit smaller and has fewer luxury features.) And, note that hybrid technology is quite new and there are probably still quite a bit of further efficiency improvements possible…Rumor has it the next version of the Prius will have considerably more power and efficiency.

As for what I do:

(1) I drive a Toyota Prius.

(2) I try to walk and bicycle when places when not too inconvenient. I try not take trips in the car unnecessarily…and I try to do errands when they are on the way to other places I am driving to anyway. [As a result of this, I put ~9000 miles per year on my Prius, which seems to be below average, especially for Rochester.]

(3) I use compact fluorescent bulbs and have a low-flow showerhead (both of which would save me money if not for the fact that my landlord pays the gas and electric bills).

(4) I try to set the thermostat for heat as low as tolerable…which is necessary at any rate so that it is not too hot for the neighbors upstairs.

(5) I don’t have an air conditioner for my apartment (admittedly easier to get away with in Rochester than in other places).

There are definitely still plenty of “improvement opportunities” for me. E.g., in the food arena, I still eat quite a bit of meat and seafood (often shipped from far away)…and don’t buy that much locally-grown stuff.